Oil in Frame Forks

onMay 28, 2012

Here’s a good one to try – on second thoughts if you like scraping your footpegs on your OIF Trumpy read no further or it will only worry you. Shaddy’s new to these, he’s been riding Hinkleys for years. Round in his shed he showed me this on the 72 Bonnie he’s doing up. With the bike on the centre stand he grasped the front wheel firmly between his knees and twisted the handlebars from side to side. Watch the forks stanchions (upper tubes) bend and twist as you are doing this. Shaddy was quite alarmed by this and asked if it was normal. As an old Meridan owner from way back I was able to reassure him the he was in possession of a finely tuned example of British engineering at its peak and that they have a reputation for fine handling. While this is true I’ve felt a bit uneasy hammering round a bumpy corner ever since. When I got home I tried this on my 07 Sprint – stiff as the Pope in a nunnery, good show Mr Bloor!